Disclosure Ref: 1

Sexual harm prevention orders (SHPO) statistics

Freedom of Information Act 2000 Request

Request

I copy your request in italics below for ease of reference:

‘Please could you tell me if you hold the following information; How many sexual harm prevention orders have been issued since 8th March 2015 How many SHPO’s were issued to those who committed offences against children were breached overall, and how many of those were for sexual offences against children How many SHPO’s were breached and then resulted in another custodial sentence in total? How many SHPO’s were issued to individuals convicted of sexual offences against children who served a custodial sentence for the original offence were then breached? And of those how many went on to have another custodial sentence imposed?’

Response

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) does not centrally collate information within the Management Information System (MIS) database showing the level of detail requested. Such as whether the order was imposed in respect of offences against children, whether the breach involved offences against children or the sentence imposed. To determine this would require a manual review of over one thousand case records which would consequently engage the cost limit set out in section 12 of the FOI Act.

Section 12(1) of the Act means public authorities are not obliged to comply with a request for information if it estimates the cost of complying would exceed the appropriate limit. The appropriate limit for central government is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 3.5 working days determining whether the department holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting the information.

We believe that the cost of answering your request would exceed the appropriate limit. Consequently, we are not obliged to do so.

Under section 16 of the FOI Act we have an obligation to advise what, if any, information may assist you with your request. Please see the attached spread sheet and accompanying caveats. The table displays the number of section 103I Sexual Harm Prevention Order offences charged and reaching a first hearing at magistrates’ courts from March 2015 to September 2016. This is in line with the CPS policy of publishing data a quarter in arrears; once adequate assurance of that data has been carried out. It should be noted that the legislation relates to several types of court order and it is not possible to break down the data to show the type of order which has been breached, without engaging the cost limit set out in section 12 of the FOI Act.

Furthermore the official statistics relating to sentencing, criminal court proceedings, offenders brought to justice, the courts and the judiciary are maintained by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ). It may be helpful for you to submit your request to the MOJ using data.access@justice.gsi.gov.uk.

Information Management Unit 020 3357 0899 FOIUnit@cps.gsi.gov.uk